An exploration of the perceptions of male partners involved in the birthing experience at a regional Australian hospital.

INTRODUCTION: The benefits to women of having their male partners present during labor and birth have been well documented, but the effects on men of sharing the birth experience have been less well explored. Several studies have suggested that male partners' positive experiences at this time may benefit partner and family relationships subsequently, whereas negative experiences may translate into later difficulties in these relationships. This study explored the perceptions of male partners involved in the birthing experience in the Integrated Women's Health Unit of Cairns Base Hospital, Cairns, Australia, over a 6-month period in 2010. The aims of the study were to document male partners' self-reported perceptions of their antenatal, labor, and birth experiences and birth expectations and birth involvement and to determine whether these perceptions influenced their feelings that their presence during birth was beneficial to the birthing woman. METHODS: Participants were men experiencing for the first time their partner giving birth. A self-administered 14-item questionnaire was used to collect data; 163 of 200 eligible participants returned completed questionnaires. Continuous variables were converted to categorical variables and chi-square testing was used to determine significant differences between groups. The relationship between beneficial presence and antenatal, labor, and birthing experiences was assessed using correlation analysis and hierarchical regression analysis. RESULTS: There was a significant relationship demonstrated between perceived benefit of the partners' presence and positive perception of both antenatal experience and birth involvement. There also was a positive relationship between realized birth expectations and both antenatal experience and birth involvement. DISCUSSION: This study suggests that male partners' perceptions of beneficial presence during the birth experience can be enhanced by their feeling well informed and supported during the antenatal period and feeling involved and supported by staff during birth. These findings have implications for the provision of information and support to male partners by midwives and childbirth educators and provide the basis for further research in this area.

Traditional Indigenous Games promoting physical activity and cultural connectedness in primary schools--cluster randomised control trial.

ISSUE ADDRESSED: This study investigated the effectiveness of Traditional Indigenous Games (TIG) to improve physical activity and cultural connectedness among primary school students in the community renewal areas of Townsville in North Queensland. METHODS: A cluster randomised control trial was conducted in four primary schools in 2007. Baseline and post implementation surveys were conducted in two intervention and two control schools and the results were compared. RESULTS: TIG delivered in primary schools every week over period of three months did not contribute to any statistically significant improvement in intervention and control groups in physical activity levels or cultural connectedness. CONCLUSIONS: Further research specifically in terms of intensity and duration of TIG may inform whether physical activity may be improved. Enhancing the Indigenous cultural features of the existing TIG kit might positively influence Indigenous cultural connectedness.

Medical school selection: impact of dysfunctional tendencies on academic performance.

PURPOSE: Dysfunctional personality characteristics have a negative impact on the learning process, academic motivation, academic grades and course attendance. They are associated with higher levels of anxiety and negative mood before examinations, a lack of self-confidence and fear of failure, social skills deficits, and personal and social relationship problems. Dysfunctional personality characteristics inhibit interpersonal working relationships and are detrimental to team effectiveness. Previous research revealed that the majority of students selected into an Australian undergraduate medical programme via the process of academic merit, application and interview reported elevated levels of dysfunctional personality characteristics. Our research now identifies those patterns of dysfunctional behaviour that impacted on academic grades over the first 3 years of the medical programme. METHODS: Dysfunctional personality characteristics in a sample of Australian undergraduate medical students were assessed with the Hogan Development Survey (HDS). The scores of 139 students were then correlated with their end-of-year examination marks for each of the first 3 years of medical training, and their average grade. RESULTS: Pearson's bivariate correlation analysis revealed that there were a number of significant negative relationships between academic grades and the HDS syndromes of Away and Against. There were significant positive relationships between academic grades and the HDS syndrome of Diligent. CONCLUSIONS: To enrol and teach students who fail to graduate, need to repeat, choose not to pursue a career in medicine upon graduation, or become inefficient practitioners is costly. A measure of dysfunctional behaviour has the potential to predict academic performance and improve the cost-effectiveness of medical education.

Medical school selection: Screening for dysfunctional tendencies.

AIM: One of the aims of medical selection is to deselect students who have personal characteristics that would impact negatively on their ability to interact with patients, supervisors and peers and impede their ability to cope with the stress of medical training. The arduous requirements of the formal curriculum, the customs and rituals of the socialisation process and the mistreatment and abuse reportedly experienced by students all contribute to stress, mental illness, suicide, lowered self-confidence in clinical ability, decreased ability to learn and alcohol and substance abuse. There has been little research on the effectiveness of the selection interview in deselecting students with negative personal characteristics. Our research profiles the dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies of students already selected into a medical programme through the process of academic merit, application and interview. METHODS: During 2001 and 2002, 159 students enrolled in an Australian undergraduate medical programme completed the Hogan Development Survey (HDS), which is a self-report measure of dysfunctional personality characteristics that inhibit the development of working relationships with others. RESULTS: The HDS identified negative personality characteristics in medical students that were not detected in the selection interview. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of patterns of dysfunctional behaviour in medical training has implications for the selection, teaching and pastoral care of medical students. The HDS has the potential to identify negative personal characteristics that are hard to detect during a selection interview, and may be a valuable adjunct to the interview.